Does Chief
Clarence Louie
have an attitude
and a wisdom
that may be
required to bust
loose from mass
poverty and
third world
living
conditions on
Indian reserves?
Is his a
blueprint for
economic healing
as Chief Andy
Chelsea is for
emotional,
psychological
and spiritual
healing? 80% of
the people who
hear them do not
agree with them
but 100% cannot
deny that what
they have done
WORKS!!! AND,
they did it and
continue to do
it with
integrity,
commitment and
brutal honesty.
Chief Clarence
Louie Osoyoos BC
speaking in
Northern Alberta
:

Speaking to a large aboriginal conference and some of the attendees,
including a few
who hold high
office, have
straggled in.

'I can't stand people who are late, he says into the microphone. Indian
Time doesn't cut
it. '
Some giggle, but no one is quite sure how far he is going to go. Just
sit back and
listen:

'My first rule for success is Show up on time.'
'My No. 2 rule for success is follow Rule No. 1.'
'If your life sucks, it's because you suck.'
'Quit your sniffling.'
'Join the real world. Go to school, or get a job.'
'Get off of welfare. Get off your butt.'

He pauses, seeming to gauge whether he dare, then does.
'People often say to me, How you doin'? Geez I'm working with Indians
what do you
think?'
Now they are openly laughing ... applauding. Clarence Louie is
everything that
was advertised
and more.

'Our ancestors worked for a living, he says. So should you.'

He is, fortunately, aboriginal himself. If someone else stood up and
said these
things - the
white columnist
standing there
with his mouth
open, for
example - you'd
be seen as a
racist. Instead,
Chief Clarence
Louie is seen,
increasingly, as
one of the most
interesting and
innovative
native leaders
in the country
even though he
avoids national
politics.

He has come here to Fort McMurray because the aboriginal community
needs,
desperately, to
start talking
about economic
development and
what all this
multibillion-dollar
oil madness
might mean,for
good and for
bad.

Clarence Louie is chief and CEO of the Osoyoos Band in British
Columbia's South
Okanagan. He is
44 years old,
though he looks
like he would
have been an
infant when he
began his
remarkable
20-year-run as
chief. He took a
band that had
been declared
bankrupt and
taken over by
Indian Affairs
and he has
turned in into
an inspiration.

In 2000, the band set a goal of becoming self-sufficient in five years.
They're there.

The Osoyoos, 432 strong, own, among other things, a vineyard, a winery,
a golf course
and a tourist
resort, and they
are partners in
the Baldy
Mountain ski
development.
They have more
businesses per
capita than any
other first
nation in
Canada.

There are not only enough jobs for everyone, there are so many jobs
being created
that there are
now members of
13 other tribal
communities
working for the
Osoyoos. The
little band
contributes
$40-million a
year to the area
economy.

Chief Louie is tough. He is as proud of the fact that his band fires its
own people as
well as hires
them. He has his
mottos posted
throughout the
Rez. He believes
there is no such
thing as
consensus, that
there will
always be those
who disagree.
And, he says, he
is milquetoast
compared to his
own mother when
it comes to how
today's lazy
aboriginal
youth, almost
exclusively
male, should be
dealt with.

Rent a plane, she told him, and fly them all to Iraq. Dump'em off and
all the ones who
make it back are
keepers. Right
on, Mom.
The message he has brought here to the Chipewyan, Dene and Cree who live
around the oil
sands is equally
direct: 'Get
involved, create
jobs and
meaningful jobs,
not just window
dressing for the
oil companies.'

'The biggest employer,' he says, 'shouldn't be the band office.'

He also says the time has come to get over it. 'No more whining about
100-year-old
failed
experiments.'
'No foolishly
looking to the
Queen to protect
rights.'

Louie says aboriginals here and along the Mackenzie Valley should not
look at any
sharing in
development as
rocking-chair
money but as
investment
opportunity to
create
sustainable
businesses. He
wants them to
move beyond
entry-level jobs
to real jobs
they earn all
the way to the
boardrooms. He
wants to see
business manners
develop: showing
up on time,
working extra
hours. The
business lunch,
he says, should
be drive
through, and
then right back
at it.

'You're going to lose your language and culture faster in poverty than
you will in
economic
development', he
says to those
who say he is
ignoring
tradition.

Tough talk, at times shocking talk given the audience, but on this day
in this
community, they
took it and,
judging by the
response, they
loved it.

Eighty per cent like what I have to say, Louie says, twenty per cent
don't. I always
say to the 20
per cent, 'Get
over it.'
'Chances are
you're never
going to see me
again and I'm
never going to
see you again.'
'Get some
counselling.'

The first step, he says, is all about leadership. He prides himself on
being a
stay-home chief
who looks after
the potholes in
his own backyard
and wastes no
time running
around fighting
100-year-old
battles.